Experimental / Solo Guitar

8mm Records’ latest - Gate’s "Winter Songs" - gathers three long form works of hazy fuzzed out guitar drones from the The Dead C’s Michael Morley, that amount to engrossing meditative expanses at the borders of ambient music, minimalism, and stoner rock. Inward looking and delicate, while bubbling with fury and life, it stands among our absolute favorite releases from one of the most interesting artists working today, and rides high among the best albums of the year so far.

Solo double LP by Guilhem Lacroux of Tanz Mein Herz for Gretsch Duo Jet and Korg Volca: fifteen pieces on four named sides, from plucked figures and fast repeated strumming to bell-like tones and organ-like chords. 300 copies, black vinyl.

I first met La Monte Young at a 1981 performance of his piece The Well-Tuned Piano at the Dia Art Foundation’s beautiful Harrison Street space. When I got a chance after the show to speak with La Monte and his wife, Light artist Marian Zazeela, I was surprised at their friendly demeanor and sense of humor. We began working together shortly after that. Since then, I have been playing music in Harmonic Series tuning. When Brian [Chase of Chaikin Records] first spoke to me about the possibility of …

Tip! Early acoustic guitar improv performances from the Bhutanese expat, who’d come to Asheville, NC to study in 2000 and discovered worlds of anarcho-punk and avant garde such as he’d only dreamed. Having made recordings of his newly-located improvisational conception, he intuited a desire to go deeper in his explorations of the recorded sound of the guitar, melding and colliding traditional music with his feeling for the range of textures within.

A solo acoustic guitar record by Atsushi Tsuyama, of Acid Mothers Temple and Omoide Hatoba, who has also spent fifty years as a mountain keeper in the Ina valley. Vinyl only, 200 copies, in a silver screen printed sleeve.

David Grubbs' commissioned music for Josiah McElheny's singing paintings, wall works with hand-blown glass discs that resonate sound: one 30-minute piece for lap steel, electric guitar and Serge synthesizer, built on microtonal slide.

Offshore is the first solo guitar album from Half Moon Bay local Alex Pasternak, an improvisatory record built almost entirely around a single instrument and a single practice: Restraint. Recorded close to home, it carries the sound of the Pacific and the voices of his two young daughters as they stroll the shoreline, from serene minus tides to stormy shore break. "Offshore, in surfing, is used to describe the strong winds that blow from the shore to the sea, creating space inside the curl - but…

Late-90s guitar pieces by Loren Connors, most on vinyl for the first time: the unrealized 1996 double 7" Battle of Clontarf, The Five Points EP, the Star of Bethlehem suite and Gershwin's I Love You, Porgy. 180g LP, edition of 300.

*100 copies limited edition* Inspired by macro photography, field recordings and the hidden world of insects, "Bugs" explores the fragile boundary between nature and electronics. Built through instinctive improvisations with analog synthesizers, acoustic instruments, drum machines and environmental recordings, the album unfolds as a collection of immersive sonic landscapes suspended between twilight and darkness. Rather than describing the natural world, "Bugs" magnifies it, transforming tiny mo…

Been a fan of Brian Ruryk since the early 90's when Pete Larson convinced me to buy his Out Guitar Explosion 7" on the classic Stomach Ache label. Fan for life! So honored to release this new cassette of garbage throwing tape cut-up guitar spasticity. Twenty things happen before you blink...brains blast out of ears... fly back into nostrils... next thing ya know yer using guitar strings as dental floss. Thats a warning!

This record shouldn’t, strictly speaking, be possible at all.

Lummer is the Swedish name for the now protected family of vascular plants (Clubmoss/Lycopodiaceae). Lummer grows slowly and the spores with which it reproduces can take 12—20 years to develop. These spores, known as Nikt in Swedish, were once ground into an extremely flammable light yellow “old woman’s gunpowder” that was used for early theatrical pyrotechnics. Volatile and explosive, Lummernikt requires careful handling. There is something of the small scale dangerous in Finn Loxbo’s Lummernik…

On Elyria Sound, Michael A. Muller reduces his language to one guitar, one room, one storm‑lit reel of tape, turning newly invented tunings into a hushed cycle of lullabies and laments that hold both the comfort of home and the certainty of its passing.

*150 copies limited edition* Headlights Recordings presents Manuel Mota's new work 1-7. Manuel Mota is known for the personal vocabulary he has developed for the guitar. His music draws inspiration from a multitude of references loosely rooted in the blues tradition to craft a sound which was highly regarded by Derek Bailey. Actual but transmitting an enigmatic sense of timelessness. The moment of creation- composition, and the instrumental execution- playing, are to him indistinct, and that's w…

*50 copies limited edition* Guitars and Electronics by Austin Zink and Adam KingMixed and Mastered by Grant Richardson, Hex Audio LabsArtwork by Milena KanakLayout by Emily Flake

Lou Reed's infamous Metal Machine Music returns for its 50th Anniversary. The most notorious album in rock history returns – Remastered, Revisited, and Still as Radical as Ever

Coming a couple of years after High Peak Selections, Early Music was the second 'studio' full-length album by Jon Collin. More spare and sparse than its predecessor, both in atmosphere and presentation (the track names are simply numbers), it's also perhaps more focused and consistent in terms of sound and mood (as well as instrumental set-up and recording locale). While High Peak Selections and later recordings feature environmental and external sounds bleeding in and out of recordings, the onl…

Recorded in churches and industrial buildings in the the North of England, and originally released on Winebox Press in 2013, High Peak Selections was the first full-length vinyl release by Jon Collin. Across its six mostly improvised tracks, it showcases an artist somewhat at odds with much of the wave of fingerpicking acoustic guitarists that was in the middle of breaking around this time. While the base technique here is still fingerstyle, his use of various preparations, metal slides, feedbac…

The 20th of March marks the beginning of the astronomic spring. It is also the release date of the long awaited new album by S.J. (Johan) Borger. With his Electric Chamber Orchestra he sets to explore the relation between sound, composition and play. A personal journey back to the light, that invites the listener to escape this busy and noisy world. The first new album by Johan Borger (1984) in 14 years sees the light of day on the first day of spring, 20 March 2026. This is not a coincidence. S…

*250 copies limited edition* Minami Saeki is an actor who also has experience as a film director. Energetically engaged in musical activities as well, she is known for her work as a voice performer on the experimental/improvised music scene inside and outside Japan, mainly through collaborations with composer/guitarist Taku Sugimoto.This album introduces Minami Saeki the composer to the world. Just one of her compositions, "vacances" (2018), is recorded in this 2-CD set. Comprised only of a set …

Sofie Herner (Enhet För Fri Musik, Neutral) returns with Neuter, the first proper album since the Gitarrmusik III-X LP released on Förlag För Fri Musik back in 2017. Neuter was recorded between 2018 and 2021 and is the culmination of a very distinctive and unmistakable sound Sofie has developed and refined during close to 10 years now. The music of Leda is based on primitive guitar loops of various lenghts, loops that intervenes and creates peculiar rhythms and subtle harmonies. Slow-burning pro…

*70 copies limited edition* The sweet night thickens like boiling jam. Two muted moons transmute into silent eyes, its rays glowing through different stages of reality. A path through haze unfolds as Niko Karlsson's gentle guitar unfolds like a twisted flower and recedes back into invisibility under a shower of fern's seeds.

One of the most profound solo statements to date from a musical master who has been crossing musical borders for over three decades! Concentrating exclusively on the acoustic guitar, Fred Frith stretches himself and the instrument like never before, performing with the eloquence and grace of a master in peak form. With a prodigious technique and elegant sense of maturity he draws upon a lifetime of study and experience to bring together influences as diverse as classical, blues, folk, gypsy and …

*2026 stock. 30 copies limited edition* Dry, mostly unprocessed recordings of feedback trials with electric guitar, amps, mics and speakers. "When I was in 7th grade, my friends and I started spending our long lunch breaks walking to the nearest supermarket to buy things that felt important. Being on our own, wandering those aisles, surrounded by endless varieties of goods, felt like a new kind of freedom to me. To this day, I still love entering a supermarket with the slightest clue what to buy…

*50 copies limited edition* Now Transitioning is a collection of performances built around a time of personal change, discovery and evolution - waiting for a second child, switching over to a new day job, moving into a new home, looking forward and then eventually getting used to a new phase of life. All tracks on the album are single studio improvisations, performed and recorded live, using real-time digitally processed guitars and sampling techniques. Mastered by Adam Badì Donoval

*2026 stock* Acclaimed experimental baritone guitarist Porös release "aldrig tillbaka. alltid." is a remarkable collection which offers a profound exploration of abstract soundscapes, showcasing the artist's unique ability to transform improvisation into captivating auditory experiences. Porös's music melds intricate guitar techniques with avant-garde elements, inviting listeners into a fluid, organic sonic journey. Each track on "aldrig tillbaka. alltid." emerges spontaneously, creating a tapes…

*200 copies limited edition* Following the dense, multitracked complexity of the debut double album "aldrig tillbaka. alltid.", Porös returns with a striking follow-up, nyck.. Translating from Swedish as "whim" or "caprice," the title perfectly encapsulates the album's methodology: a series of raw, unedited, one-take improvisations. While the debut relied purely on layered, intricately composed baritone guitar, nyck. shifts the approach to something much more immediate and impulsive. The solo ba…

Gate's "3M" is a 7-inch vinyl single released by New Zealand experimental musician Michael Morley, known for his work with The Dead C, on the German label Toneschacht. This record captures Morley's signature lo-fi, noise-drenched sound, blending distorted guitars, feedback, and abstract structures typical of his solo Gate project from the 1990s.

Gate is a New Zealand-based experimental project led by Michael Morley of The Dead C, known for its raw, noise-infused soundscapes and limited-edition releases on labels like Siltbreeze and Precious Metal.​ The 7" single "Sunshine / Ives" captures Gate's signature style from the late 1980s to 1990s era, blending distorted guitar, drones, and abstract textures across gritty, lo-fi tracks that push boundaries between noise rock and avant-garde.

Born in 1974, Giuseppe Ielasi grew up in the south of Italy and now resides in the outskirts of Milano with his family. He has been making music and touring since the late nineties (he tours much less nowadays). He mostly plays solo, but also in Bellows (with Nicola Ratti), Rain Text (with Giovanni Civitenga) and in duos with Enrico Malatesta, Kassel Jaeger, Andrew Pekler and collaborates regularly with film-maker and photographer Armin Linke (also editing his films). He has released (short) rec…

begin form here... begin from here...our world lives when their world ceases to existbegin from here...with hopes, between silent skies, while world breathes again and the fever subsidesbegin from here...and to those who strike blowsbegin from here...while we keep goingbegin from here...while we mourn, we also fight We will be wherever the fires are lit! We will be wherever the fires are lit, a sort of sequel to Tashi Dorji’s first DC release Stateless, takes the torch and storms forward, with t…

*25 copies limited edition* The second release on Many Chants Records is a solo EP, Guitar (For Loren), dedicated to Loren Connors. It was recorded in April 2025 on 2 guitars after playing/recording taishogoto for two years non-stop. It’s my personal take on the idiom of Loren’s music. I first came in touch with his music in the nineties through his connection with Thurston Moore and Sonic Youth. Our first encounter came in 2017 when I visited Loren at his appartment for a documentary I proposed…

"Nina Garcia has been actively moving the art of noise guitar into surprising and intriguing new spaces. She has been at it for some time now, a bit of a secret weapon all the while hiding in plain sight. As I listen to her music and ruminate upon seeing her perform it brings me to a realization which I have with very few musicians: the ego inherent in making art  can be transcended through a purity of direct action. At least that’s the feeling I have when experiencing Nina’s music which comes a…

*2023 stock* Limted 2022 restock, last copies. Originally released in 2006. Tetuzi Akiyama has been a major player on the free music/improv scene in Tokyo for over 20 years. Pre-Existence first came out on CD as a part of the great Wooden Guitar series from Locust. Akiyama's playing here is one of a minimalist approach, discovering and investigating the empty spaces between each note. He does not follow the Takoma guitar school style of finger-picking, but instead invokes a far more warped primi…

For his third new album release for Drag City, Tashi Dorji turns to the electric guitar. After the furious acoustic improvisations that drove the previous two—"Stateless" and "we will be wherever the fires are lit" — it’s easy to imagine an album of his electric guitar improvisations as an encompassingly incendiary essay. Especially when titled low clouds hang, this land is on fire. After all, this is a man capable of tearing up the place with the tactile musical violence of Bill Orcutt and Dere…

** Two color hand silk-screened cloth insert. Edition of 50 copies ** Post-Materialization Music presents Live at G Spot Gallery by Sandy Ewen. Recorded by Ryan Edwards on 7/26/2020 at G-Spot Gallery in Houston, TX. Thanks to Wayne Gilbert & G-Spot Gallery for their hospitality.

Trances, Jules Reidy’s follow-up to the celebrated Music by Jules ReidyMixed by James GinzburgMastered by Stephan MathieuArtwork by Florian & Michael QuistrebertPhotograph by Camille BlakeDesign and art direction by Bartolomé Sanson  (2022), takes place in between states, tracing a kind of restless movement in search of—or is it away from?—a center. The twelve tracks shift between fragment and epic, returning to familiar phrases between forays outward into uncertain expanses. Through its explora…

Black Editions present a reissue of Kazuo Imai's far and wee, originally released in 2004. Kazuo Imai is one of the few artists to traverse both Japan's early avant-garde and free jazz movements. Though he began performing in the 1970s, his 2004 P.S.F. album far and wee was only the second under his name. In a series of thrilling acoustic guitar improvisations -- Imai's playing crackles with dynamic tension and physicality as well as a subtlety and nuance that reveals him as one of the instrumen…

'Solo Acoustic Guitar Improvisations VII' is volume 7 in a series Dirk Serries is recording in honor of the Höfner archtop guitars.  A few years ago Dirk fell in love with the acoustic guitar and specifically the Höfner brand for its specific and unique harsher sound their vintage archtop guitars hold.  It's definitely far away from Dirk's electric constructions but at the same the acoustic approach is merely another way for him to express his fascination for sound in particular and how you can …

This album was recorded at Liu Ying Studio in Shenzhen. An improvised session on acoustic guitar from start to finish, it nonetheless demonstrates a highly original, coherent artistic conception: a distinct “Oriental” aesthetic redefined by Mamer’s own creative vision. In tracks like “Sleepless”, “Man from the East”, and “Backyard”, Mamer ingeniously deconstructs and deploys traditional Han Chinese music scales to serve his own purpose, adding artful ambivalence and rich subtleties to an unmista…